₦airaland Forum

[quote author=Okija_juju link=topic=784574.msg9379517#msg9379517 date=1319097323]Thats why we are still surffering mediocre services when people are not willing to pay good money for top services[/quote]You're giving a very simplistic and lousy interpretation to the problem.

The truth is that those high rates you pay, or were paid in the past (I'll estimate about 90% of them,) go to service/support brazen corruption, misplaced priorities, and governments with unfortunate leaderships that were/are saddled with responsibilities far beyond their competencies. As a result, those revenues/monies were not used to provide the basic infrastructure needed in the first place to run those businesses. That was how the previous revenues were used, and that was what brought us to this mess. It continues to be that way, only worse. So the society is in a cul-de-sac.

IMHO, until we have our own, even more effective, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana fame, things can only "improve" at snail speed, such as we are currently experiencing.

I'll go off my soapbox now.

To the OP, I'll go with the poster who intelligently pointed to a world benchmark of $40-100. So, under the present circumstances in Nigeria, I'll pay a maximum of N15k/mth for unlimited data cap to whoever/whichever service would provide me with the highest download speed and a tolerable level of service disruptions.

From all I've read this far, Mobitel may just begin to fit the bill at the present time. I'll have to tarry a bit more tho'.

P34c3

[quote author=dr_klump link=topic=748425.msg9343725#msg9343725 date=1318672747]Has anyone seen Game of Thrones by HBO??[/quote]Yeah, that's quality programming on HBO. If you're a fan of such epics by HBO, then check out "Rome," if you haven't already seen it. I and my significant other were blown away by it.

P34c3

I've just listened to those songs by Asa; simply put, the songs are fabulous, typical Asa if you ask me.   I'm wondering when her next full album is expected to be released, and I hope I've not missed something O.

he following story appears in the Guardian of Lagos, and I quote:

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Britain deports its five-gold medal Nigerian hero

AFTER winning five gold medals for Britain, the country is deporting disabled weightlifter Vincent Onwubiko to Nigeria because he is not qualified to live in the United Kingdom (UK), the UK Border Agency has said.

Onwubiko, 43, who suffers from polio and uses a wheelchair, was expected to be flown from London to Lagos as early as yesterday evening, The Independent newspaper said. He came to Britain in 1994 and represented Britain at the 1995 and 1997 World Wheelchair Games.

He was also selected for the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta but could not attend. He claims that he could be dead within weeks if sent back to Nigeria. Onwubiko told The Independent: "The government has given me three months of painkillers for my return to Nigeria and told me to get on with it. But I need proper care. Sending me back is a death sentence."

He was sentenced to five months in prison for driving while disqualified after twice being convicted of careless driving. Immigrants who commit serious criminal offences are subject to automatic deportation once their sentences end. Onwubiko is being held at the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, close to London Heathrow Airport.

"In light of a number of criminal convictions, Vincent Onwubiko was notified on November 13, 2007 of a decision to make a deportation order against him," the head of criminality and detentions at the United Kingdom Border Agency, David Wood, said.

"Full consideration was given to his case and the decision was reviewed and upheld by an immigration judge. His judicial review claim was found by the judge to be totally without merit.

"The UK Border Agency has not been presented with a European Court of Human Rights injunction preventing his removal and there are therefore no legal barriers to his removal from the UK."

Onwubiko has written to Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking him to look into his case.

End of quote.

Half way into reading this story, I was thinking "there we go again - another Nigerian and Nigeria being treated shabbily and unfairly." But then the rest of the story revealed the reason behind such a treatment: The man committed serious crimes in a society where he chose to live, and IMHO the man deserves the punishment prescribed by law in that (especially as it is a civilized) society. People or individuals should just stop giving the country a bad name. Further, such people/persons need to be identified as such whenever they return to our own country Nigeria and appropriate measures should be taken against them. These would serve as a deterrent, while enabling them (such miscreants) to be reformed where possible.

The following today, Thursday March 4, 2010, appeared in the public opinion section of our own The Guardian of Lagos, and I quote:

Stemming Northern marginalisation: In defence of Sanusi
By Shehu Abubakar

THERE is no sphere in Nigeria that clearly evidences the growing loss of relevance of Northern Nigeria as much as the banking sector. And it is a rude shock that many Nigerians of whatever persuasion - Christian or Muslim, southerner or northerner - do not appear to note the danger in this strange imbalance in a country in which all sections are supposed to develop at par. Even our "human rights activists" do not appear to be concerned with the fact that with ownership of banks and financial institutions so skewed to one section of the country, the associated long-run economic dis-empowerment of the other section is not only unjust but could spell economic doom for the entire country. In this regard, it is difficult not to see Charles Soludo's bank consolidation exercise as a deliberate ploy to marginalise the North.

There is a building in central Kano. Known as the Ahmadu Bello Building, it is, with about 12 storeys, the tallest building in all of Kano. That building used to be the head-office of Bank of the North. All of its floors were busy, occupied by executives rendering a core service to various sectors of the economy. If you visited the Ahmadu Bello Building in the '80s after its commissioning and even down to the last 10 years, it was a beehive of activities. You would see hordes of bank workers and customers.

Today, that building is nothing but a relic of the past. Only one or two floors are in use and close to 80 per cent of what ought to be prime property occupied by one of the most vibrant economic growth drivers of northern Nigeria is in a sorry state of decay. Indeed the building erected at great cost in 1980s is slowly coming to ruin. Its elevators when they manage to work are death traps and lack of maintenance is taking a serious toll on what used to be the pride of every resident of Kano, indeed every northerner. The Ahmadu Bello Building is only one victim of the recent banking consolidation exercise of former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Charles Soludo. Today, in forcefully merging Bank of North with several other strange bed-fellows, the CBN has deprived the people of Kano and by extension, northern Nigeria of the extensive benefits that this regional bank used to provide.

Bank of the North never aspired to be anything other than a regional bank. Its sphere of influence was very clearly defined and in our constitutional democracy was very legitimate. It existed clearly to help propel people from the northern part of our country from the fringe to the very mainstream of economic development. And all the state governors in the north subscribed to this and invested accordingly in this bank. Does it not amount to a breach of the rights of the people of the north for such a bank to be forcefully decreed out of existence as the CBN under Soludo did?

It is doubtful how much of its very clearly defined and articulated goals are understood by Unity Bank the quasi-national institution which Bank of the North was forced to metamorphose into. It is even more doubtful if in its efforts to demonstrate that it is a national bank, Unity Bank can connect anymore to the needs and aspirations of the peoples of northern Nigeria. Obviously just as it may be impossible for anyone who did not grow up in the creeks of the Nigeria Delta to fully appreciate the intricacies of life in that part of the country, so it is for those who have not truly experienced life in the core north to fully appreciate life in that part of Nigeria. And this is vital if a bank is to truly optimise its impact on the community. It is not only Bank of the North that lost out in this bizarre exercise of the CBN that headlined the leadership of Soludo. Intercity Bank also lost out. This predominantly northern bank no longer exists.

But if banks like Intercity and Bank of the North could be said to be regional banks focused on the north, Habib Bank was not. A clearly northern bank with professional and ethical tenets founded on the principles of Islam, Habib Bank even though a very successful northern-dominated bank, provided services on a national scale. With a presence across the country, it was a bank with which lots of northerners shared affiliation at various levels - commercial, cultural and spiritual. Consequently, it was common to see the Hausa or Fulani tailor in Ebute-Metta in Lagos for instance, go the extra mile to establish a banking relationship with a Habib Bank located all the way on Awolowo Road in Ikoyi. This was his own bank and banking with it was more than an ordinary transaction.

In the aftermath of Soludo's consolidation, Habib Bank simply disappeared. It was subsumed into a contraption that appeared confused as to who it was and what role it wanted to play in the economy. Rather, the new contraption appeared almost hell-bent on further emasculating the legacy of Habib completely out of existence. Otherwise, how does one explain the phenomenal growth of the legacy Platinum Bank in the new Bank PHB contraption? How does one explain its desperation to buy over first Afribank and later, Spring Bank if not part of the grand ploy to further dilute and completely annihilate the legacy of Habib?

It is in the light of these distortions in what ought to be a delicate economic balance in our country, that we must appreciate the interventions of Lamido Sanusi, our new CBN Governor. It does not need a professor of macro-economics to make us realise that the skewed nature of ownership of banks across the country could only have further spelt doom for us as it clearly worsened the economic disadvantage of Northern Nigeria. With more than 20 bank CEOs from the south of Nigeria, only Falalu Bello of Unity Bank is a Northerner. Indeed the only other northern bank CEO in the last six years was Sanusi himself and in all, he spent less than six months in office!

As Nigerians we must learn to begin to tell ourselves the truth. Soludo's banking consolidation may have benefitted the south but was a big disservice to the north and consequently may have been a disservice to the entire country. Sanusi's efforts to redress this situation should not be derided by elitist and self-seeking apostles of regional politics. Ultimately, the poor in Lafia, Gagagarawa, Zuru and Birnin Kebbi, need specialised banking and financial support like his counterpart in Koko, Uyo and Ogoni. This can, however, never happen if all the banks in Nigeria are southern banks, dressed in the self-deceptive toga of national banks.

Thankfully, the CBN has since systematically assumed control of Bank PHB and hopefully, should in due course extend its control to Unity Bank. Without prejudice to whatever misdemeanors by executives of the former that warranted the take-over, the CBN may wish to consider dismantling these unnecessary, fake and inefficient behemoths into the focused and efficient banking institutions which at least some of their components used to be. Let Habib Bank and Bank of the North re-emerge from these institutions as part of the new focus of the CBN to encourage regional and specialised banking. We can only further drive holistic economic growth and development if we empower every segment of our country to progress together.

    * Abubakar lives in Lagos

Unquote.

The link is at http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article04//indexn2_html?pdate=040310&ptitle=Stemming%20Northern%20marginalisation:%20In%20defence%20of%20Sanusi

The article is food for thought, IMHO. I particularly find compelling the analogy by Abubakar, in paragraph five, to the dynamics of growing up in the creeks of the Niger Delta region, for example. With a national institution such as the banking sector and its regulators, such arguments hold quite some merit.

mavtrevor:
Secret of tor, leave like 5 to 10 bucks in your sim before connecting.

very good advice @mavtrevor, it (d trick) appears 2 @ least quicken establishing a connection.

@All, as @ 2day-12:32pm, Your-Freedom guys hv admitted/posted dat, due 2 recent changes 2 mtn's netwrx, connections 2 mtn with yf has not bn possible 4 some time & is currently not possible w/out the aid of additional software. They're dia4 offering refunds under certain rules 2 those dat qualify & r interested. If interested, check out details as posted 2day in their forum. They added they're still working on it tho'.

I've opened a thread on the topic, so pls follow this post up frm dia, to allow this thread maintain its integrity. I just posted this here cos I follow this thread. D title of d new thread is "Y-F guys are offering refunds as @ 20100302."

Good luck.

@obinna5000; dat 1 dey fantastico 4 9ja also, , d only thing b say 1 no fit bring-am come home or office. Na which particular area ur hotspot dey?

@curioz; dat is fantastico, well done!    Plz yan me ur Multilinks set up, i dey duwdudara at yahoo com. Or, as I c say u dey online now, if u gree & u dey yahoo, make u add me 2 ur buddy list so we fit yan 4 messenger. TIA.

E b like say this bobo wey just dey "flex dey go" everywia wan build house with d thing him get 4 free frm d brilliant and open boyz; odawise, y him dey post him # say make pple call am? And na only leach d bobo just dey leach 4 d oda side sef. Shioor and hisses. 

@puskin;

You be d 1 wey don post the latest success, a beg make u extend ur help to me for duwdudara at yahoo company O, a beg. If others fit help too, I dey O.

Folks, na how una dey sabi quote message automatically for this bbs naw?

TIA.

@init4dmoni;

A beg make u helep man-pikin 4 ur Starship O, I dey duwdudaraATyahooDOTcom. Na dem 24/7 I bin dey use.

TIA

@MAYOR;

A beg, make u smile towards man-pikin & send help come duwdudaraATyahooDOTcom too O. I go need help 4 both MounTaiN & Star.

TIA.

Thanks Old Glory, I'll work with at least such a ball-pack figure.

Old Glory,

Thank you very much for the reply - you've added real value, and am having to do further research and sharpen my strategy. The comparison with a 7 series is useful, and I'll welcome a comparison with a 5 series as well, although I doubt there'll be much of a deviation from your conclusions.

Could you or others please inform me as to the approximate amount (or percentage of the purchase price?) one would be required to pay at a Lagos port to clear a brand new car? Such info will help me figure out the total landing cost of a new car.

Once again, thanks.

Old Shame,

Let's just say that your wisdom, understanding, and patience on this board appear to me quite remarkable. Please keep it up. Now to my own questions and request for help to you:

My premise is that after much research, I have decided to go for a brand new 2007 Hyundai Azera Limited (i.e, fully loaded, even with Xenon lamps if they can be fitted!). Already, this will tell you I do not at this point care about re-sale value or reliability per se, I just want to believe am getting, say, a BMW 530i for the price of a Camry ( ) and just going for that class of luxury and ride comfort. Although the 2007 Azera may not be available via the dealership in Lagos for another couple of months, their price range via the dealer is about 6 million Naira. Now, does it make sense for me to import this car ASAP from the US to Lagos? What is your estimated costs? From which port in the US? Based on your reasoned earlier posts, I now know I should RORO!

Having said all that, am not averse to any other advise you may kindly profer to me, even something that may suggest another brand. I've previously owned a 1983 BMW 520i from new for several years, so I'll consider myself lucky if I can get over what some or even yours truly may call "brand snobbery."

Many thanks!